The vital point
by Onichun
Summary: Jiraiya and Naruto's mission is to convice Tsunade to return to the village, Jiraiya knew it was going to be hard, but he was convinced they would succeed, but Tsunade had managed to keep something secret from his famous spy network.
1. Tsunade, What?

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, won't do so in a near future neither.

This story is semi-AU

* * *

Naruto was sick of walking around in Tanzaku, so far they hadn't found any real leads to where that Tsunade was, the only positive thing was that his Gama-chan was full to the brim.

"Let's go in here," Jiraiya declared as they walked past a bar.

"What, that's a bar, I'm still a child Ero-sennin!" Naruto protested.

"I'm not telling you to drink, just eat of the appetizers, this is where we can find information," Jiraiya said before walking in, Naruto grudgingly walking after the white haired sannin. The pair hadn't taken more than two steps inside the establishment before Jiraiya suddenly halted, Naruto still focusing on his balloon bumping into him.

"Tsunade!" Jiraiya exclaimed and pointed at a booth on the opposite side of the entrance, an accusing "Jiraiya!" coming from the booth.

Naruto stared at the blonde that was supposed to be Jiraiya's old teammate, meaning she should be in her fifties, instead he saw a well-endowed blonde woman in her mid-twenties sitting there. _'What a swindler,'_

As Jiraiya walked over to his old friend and love interest he noticed that Tsunade had her apprentice and old lover's niece Shizune with her.

The four shinobi and Tsunade's pet pig Tonton sat in silence for several minutes as the two elder shinobi drank sake while Naruto wolfed down appetizer after appetizer.

"What a day, meeting so many familiar faces," Tsunade muttered, something that wasn't missed by Jiraiya.

"Orochimaru, did anything happen?" he questioned, already knowing that the meeting between his old team-mates was the cause to why the city no longer had a castle.

"Nothing much, just a little greeting," Tsunade replied after giving Shizune a harsh glare, "You, why have you come?" she questioned as she withdrew a deck of cards and started shuffling them.

"I'll get straight to the point," Jiraiya said as he picked up his cards, "The village has requested that you become Godaime Hokage," Tsunade visibly froze at that. Jiraiya saw from the corner of his eyes that Naruto started choking on the fish he had been in the process of eating.

"You've heard of Sarutobi-sensei right?" Jiraiya asked.

"Orochimaru killed him, right?" Tsunade said as she gave Jiraiya a pointed stare, "He told me himself,"

"This Orochimaru, he killed Sandaime-jiichan!?" Naruto asked angrily, why hadn't he heard about this before? "Who is this Orochimaru?"

"The last sannin," Jiraiya answered neutrally.

"Why, the sannin are Konoha ninja right?" Naruto protested, "Then why?"

"Who's this kid?" Tsunade questioned as she stared down on Jiraiya's blond companion.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he said somewhat proudly, his voice showing emotion for the first time during the conversation.

"Ka-chan!" the blonde hurricane that swept into the booth had all the occupants caught by surprise as Tsunade cursed her infallible luck, or rather lack of luck. "I'm all out of money,"

"Ka…chan?" Jiraiya questioned, his cards falling from his hands as he gawked at the blonde girl sitting by Tsunade, nestling her head into the older woman. The resemblance was definitely there, in there were just two changes compared to Tsunade when she was about eleven, the hair for one was slightly paler, and this girl wasn't totally flat-chested; otherwise the girl was just like a younger Tsunade.

"Alright, Shizune will give you some more money, now run off again Kana-chan," Tsunade said, once the girl had received some money from the brunette she set off from the bar.

"As you see I got other priorities, so I refuse,"

"I… see," Jiriaya said, still stunned from the revelation that Tsunade supposedly had a daughter.

"Besides, the title of Hokage is crap. Only an idiot becomes one," Jiraiya had to physically restrain his student from attempting to attack Tsunade.

"This is a bar Naruto, you haven't even been drinking, so no need to start a bar fight," Jiraiya said as he drew back the boy from the blonde sannin, still holding on to the boy.

"But, anyone who makes fun of the Yondaime or the old man deserves a punch to the face, regardless of whether they are women or not!"

"Oh, you've got a lot of guts to say that to me, brat," Tsunade said as she stood up on the table as well, taking the boy's statement as a challenge, "step outside,"

Jiraiya simply sighed as he watched the two blondes walk outside; they were both stubborn as mules.

"One finger, that's all I'll need to beat you," Tsunade said to Naruto as she held up a single finger.

"Why you…" it didn't take long before Naruto charged the woman, throwing a few shuriken in her direction before he withdrew a kunai. Before he managed to connect the attack Tsunade intervened, snagging the kunai from him with the single finger she said she'd use against the boy. In one swift motion she used the kunai to flip off his hitai-ite and in the process unbalance him.; both kunai and hitai-ite were now sailing in the air.

Naruto could only look as Tsunade's finger closed in on him, with a flick he was sent tumbling backwards several meters. _'She's strong,'_ he had to admit as he watched as the kunai landed only after he'd stood up again, the hitai-ite landing shortly thereafter.

"Brat, before you pass out, let me ask you one thing. Why do you care about the title Hokage so much?" Tsunade asked, feeling confident that he would fall any moment now.

"Unlike you, I'm gonna take on the title Hokage for sure," Naruto said, "Because Hokage is my dream!"

For a moment Tsunade thought she could see her former lover and her brothers' reflection in the blond boy as he said those words, visibly freezing.

'She dropped her guard, maybe I can use that jutsu,' Naruto thought as he saw how she seemed slightly unaware of her surroundings. He used the stages he'd learned from Jiraiya and charged her.

Tsunade snapped out of her brief travel down the memory lane, to her surprise she found the blond brat charging her with one of Minato's prized techniques. She moved her arm quickly and used her strength to crack the ground with the single finger she had restricted herself to use, the crack unbalancing Naruto. Instead of hitting her he hit the ground a meter in front of her before he was sent rocketing backwards from the technique. 'It looked just like the Yondaime's jutsu, but the effect was weaker,'

"Jiraiya, why have you been teaching this brat Rasengan,"

"Yes, I'm his teacher after all"

"Only you and the Yondaime could use that technique, are you acting like a teacher and teach him something he can't master? Don't give him any ideas," Tsunade said harshly, "That's why this kid likes to daydream that he can become Hokage one day,"

"I'm not daydreaming, idiot!" Naruto said vehemently, "I can master this move in three days!"

"You said it kid. A man never takes back his words," Tsunade said, was the boy willing to bet perhaps?

"I'm not taking back my words, because that's my nindō!" Naruto said confidently.

"Then let's make a bet,"

"A bet?" Naruto questioned,

"If you can master that jutsu in one week, then I'll acknowledge that you can become Hokage… I'll even give you this necklace," Tsunade said, pointing to the necklace hanging around her neck.

"Tsunade-sama, that's an important…" Shizune went to intervene before Tsunade lost an important family heirloom.

"I don't care about a crappy necklace like that," Naruto said before Shizune got to finish.

"Gaki, that's a unique crystal that could buy three mountains if you sold it. It belonged to the Shodai Hokage," Jiraiya informed his student.

"Well, then its fine I suppose," Naruto said as Jiraiya only sweatdropped, the kid seemingly loved money.

"Okay, but if you don't master it in a single week, then you lose, meaning I'll take all your money," Tsunade said as she held up Naruto's wallet.

"Ah, gama-chan!" Naruto said as he fervently searched his pockets. He watched as Tsunade and her apprentice walked away.

"Well, you know where we're staying, I'm gonna go and check if I can get any information here," Jiraiya said before walking off, leaving Naruto alone on the road.

"I apologize for my mother," Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin when a young girl walked up to him from a neighboring alley.

"You're the girl from earlier, the old lady's…" Naruto started as he pointed accusingly at her.

"Daughter, yes. My name is Senju Kaname,"

"Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage!"

"I heard you say that before," Kaname said as she stared at the boy, "You think you can manage to master the jutsu in seven days?"

"Of course!"

"Well then, since my mom and your guardian went their ways, how about we go and gamble a little!"

"Actually, I'm planning of going to bed early since I need to rest and all since I'm gonna train all day tomorrow…"

"What are you? Forty? Come on and have some fun, I'll help you train in return!" Kaname questioned.

"But your mother took my wallet, I don't have any money," Naruto tried.

"Don't worry, I can lend you some, Shizune-neechan gave me a lot," Kaname said as she dragged the boy with her.

Naruto discovered that Kaname wasn't the luckiest at the gambling house, he on the other hand had a freakish luck, and soon Kaname had given up on playing herself, instead she watched as Naruto raked in money.

* * *

To Naruto's delight he had found a ramen stand and was greedily devouring his food of choice when he felt someone taping his shoulder. Turning around he could see Kaname standing there.

"Good morning Uzumaki-san," Kaname said as she sat down beside her partner the evening before. They had managed to begin the process of cleaning the whole place out, netting them a hundred thousand ryō before the owner threw them out; citing their young ages. _'Next time we'll use henge! That way they won't suspect anything.'_

"Ohayo, Senju-san!" Naruto said after he had swallowed the mouthful of ramen he had been in the process of eating. He had figured that it was better to be safe and call her by last name, just in case she'd take insult of him being improper and she had the same freakish strength as her mother. It was probably the most valuable lesson Jiraiya had taught him about women, don't anger them too much.

"One veggie ramen please," Kaname said to owner of the stall, though ramen was no favorite she supposed she'd survive eating it once.

"So, when are you going to start training, its noon already Uzumaki-san," Kaname asked the blond.

"Please, call me Naruto instead, Uzumaki feels so weird," Naruto said, it felt out of character to be nice, usually he was much more vocal about his opinions and didn't voice them as kindly. He supposed he could credit that to the fact that the girl beside him potentially had the same strength as Tsunade and he didn't want to be sent flying.

"Well, if you insist, then you'll have to call me Kaname instead, Senju feels off," she said as she absentmindedly tugged at the hem of her white haori.

"Sure thing, Kaname-chan," he wore a bright grin that was contagious, eliciting a small smile from her.

"Well, back to the question; since someone kept me from going to bed early I woke up relatively recently, so I was thinking of training as soon as I've eaten," Kaname blushed slightly at that, she'd never thought that he would sleep for that long only because he was up late gambling with her, but apparently he had.

"Sorry about that Naruto-kun," Kaname said apologetically just as her own meal arrived before her.

"No problem, now I have more money than before at least, it's only half a day's setback. I'm sure I can regain that!" Naruto said, dismissing it as nothing big. After paying for their meals the pair set off towards the outsides of the village.

* * *

"Naruto-kun, can't we have a spar before you start with your training?" Kaname asked once they had reached an area Naruto deemed suitable to train with the rasengan.

"But I wanna train with the rasengan," Naruto protested, the pout that she gave him at that was something he would declare illegal the moment he became Hokage, "How about you spar with one of my kage bunshin?"

"Is that a solid clone or what, and besides, don't clones need commands to move?"

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" a single shadow-clone appeared beside Naruto, "they are just like me, except they go poof when they take a wounding blow, now I need to start practicing with my rasengan," Naruto said as he walked a good hundred meters away to practice on a lone tree in the rocky terrain.

He had only practiced for ten minutes when suddenly a huge stream of information went into his head, "You got that crazy strength as well!" Naruto screamed at the blonde girl, he could see the ground that had went flying, causing his clone to dispel. _'Wait a second, how'd I know that before I even saw that…'_

"Kaname-chan!" Naruto yelled, beckoning the girl to come over to him. Just as she reached him he created another shadow clone, "I want you to take this clone with you and tell him something you're sure I don't know and then destroy it,"

"Okay…" Kaname said, not really seeing the point but she would do it anyway.

Two minutes later a small stream of information entered his head.

"You wish to see your mother's home village!" Naruto declared as Kaname reached him, "That was what you told the clone right?"

"Yeah," Kaname said hesitantly, _'does he learn what the clones learn?'_

"Awesome!" Naruto declared as he rushed up to Kaname as she was walking back, giving her a kiss on her cheek, "I bet I can speed up training this way." The still blushing Kaname could feel the chakra Naruto started to summon; she could swear that she could see it forming a thick sheet around him.

"Naruto-kun, I don't think it's good for you to make thousands of clones…"

"What? Why?" Naruto questioned, "The more clones the more I'll learn right?"

"But can't it overload your brain as well if you take in too much information, I read in one of my medic books that too much information only hurts the brain, it'll simply shut down instead," Kaname told the boy, he looked somewhat deflated and she could feel as the chakra he had loaded up dissipated.

Naruto settled on only using ten clones, opting to follow Kaname's advice. If she was right then he might just be out for days if he had summed up a thousand clones as he had originally planned.

Instead of requesting another clone to spar with Kaname settled on watching as Naruto trained with his technique. It seemed like Naruto had difficulties controlling the jutsu, as when he added more power his control of the rotation slipped, and when he focused on the control of the rotation the power suffered.

"Naruto-kun; how is your chakra control?" Kaname asked the boy after two hours without any marginal progress according to the boy, according to her he was only tiring himself out.

"According to the closet pervert; my control is shot to hell," Naruto said grumpily after another attempt of Rasengan had resulted in that the control of the rotations had been lost.

"Maybe you should practice that then?" Kaname asked, perhaps that way he'd be able to use the technique.

"But how does that help…"

"Everything, even I can see that it's your control that's the problem here; and I'm not even a genin," Kaname said, though she knew that she probably knew more than most genin knew since her mother had trained her for quite a few years.

"So… I'll just walk up trees and walk on water?" Naruto questioned.

"Yeah, considering what you said about your control that'll probably be what you can do, maybe even add holding a leaf stuck to your forehead with chakra if you can manage that as well,"

"Yosh, you heard Kaname-chan, you five do the tree walking exercise," Naruto said, pointing to five of his clones. Kaname joined Naruto on the water walking, simply sitting there and meditating.

* * *

Inside Tanzaku city two members of the legendary sannin sat in a bar; playing a game of poker while drinking some sake.

"So… You have a kid now?" Jiraiya asked as he took a sip of sake from his saucer.

"Yeah, funny how things turn out," Tsunade said, her was as usual lousy, throwing down all cards she took five new.

"How old is she?" Jiraiya asked his old teammate as he looked at his cards, Aces full of kings

"Twelve years, her birthday was fourteen days ago," Tsunade said as she poured herself some more sake.

'_So she__ was born on the 17__th__ of July,' _Jiraiya stored that piece of information in the back of his head, it wasn't important to him now, "Who's the father?"

The blank stare he received told him he wasn't going to be allowed to know that, "Well, she seems to have taken after you, but there's something about her that's different from when you were her age, more specifically her…" he said with a lecherous grin that soon was twisted in pain, an unusually powerful kick to his shin; not even when he'd mentioned Tsunade in the past had he received a kick quite that hard.

"She's my daughter, don't even imply anything with your lewd behavior when speaking of her," Tsunade said threateningly, Jiraiya simply nodded as he rubbed his right leg, thankfully it wasn't broken; only badly bruised.

"So how is it you managed to keep her hidden all these years? I'm sure the advisors would have a fit if they heard that you had a daughter,"

"Yeah, that's one reason why I kept myself under everyone's radar,"

"Building gambling debts isn't what I call keeping yourself under our radar though," Jiraiya said, emptying his saucer of sake. When he attempted to fill it up he found the bottle empty, raising the bottle over his head the owner got the message and another two bottles were sent to their table.

"I still managed to hide that I had a daughter didn't I?"

"You have me there," Jiraiya said, presenting his cards to Tsunade, unsurprisingly she didn't have anything to counter it.

"Tsunade-sama! Kana-chan haven't come to the hotel for dinner, she went out for lunch since then I haven't seen her; do you know where she is?" Shizune's appearance had the two sannin standing up. Jiraiya paid for the drinks as his female companion had already exited the establishment. He mourned the two untouched bottles that remained on the table as he ran after Tsunade.

"Tonton, tell me when you smell Kana-chan's trail," Tsunade asked her pet pig. A squeal of affirmative was heard when they passed a ramen stand.

Jiraiya whom had caught up by now had his suspicions now that ramen came into play, Naruto had still been in the hotel right before noon but was preparing to leave, so going from there it was fairly reasonable that he had eaten at that stand since it was close to their hotel.

The trio of shinobi started to move towards one of the city exits, further giving Jiraiya belief to his theory. Once they reached a small river just by a small forest his suspicions were confirmed as he saw Naruto and several clones there. _'What's the gaki doing? He's training his chakra control?'_

"Well, there you have her, the gaki is with her," Jiraiya said, case closed according to him.

"Shizune, go out there and reprimand her," Tsunade ordered her apprentice.

"What?" the brunette exclaimed, "Why do I have to look like the bad one?"

"Because, you're the mean big sister, and she can't just run off without telling her mean big sister where she's going so the mean sister can tell her she can't be with the student of Konoha's biggest pervert. He's probably already mentally twisted by being with Jiraiya," Tsunade said matter-of-factly. With a sigh Shizune walked over to her little sister in a sense.

"I wish he was perverted…" Jiraiya muttered, "But no, the kid's a bloody saint!"

Tsunade snorted at that, Jiraiya had very well succeeded with his last student, whose Hiraishin had been used to flip skirts for a while before the consequence of flipping one Uzumaki Kushina's skirt had come crashing down on the feared Konoha no Kiiroi no Senkō in the form of a weeks hospitalization, putting an end to his most known perverted streak within the walls of Konohagakure. (Though it was regarded as a village secret since if it became known outside the village that their most powerful shinobi had used his deadly technique to flip skirts would drastically lower the morale and their credibility.)

"It's true… Minato was better in that aspect, so gullible back then," Jiraiya said, a smile on his face as he reminisced about the past. The sannin never noticed as Shizune returned, her head shaking a negative.

"Why didn't you take her with you," Tsunade whispered harshly as she watched her daughter continue to meditate on the water, though she had started to manipulate the water now as well. It was encircling her in a fluid dance, taking on the shape of a dragon.

"She'd say what you hid underneath your pillow if you forced her," Shizune said curtly, "She promised to be back tonight though, she was rather adamant that she'd help Naruto to train this week, something about owing it to him,"

Tsunade pinched her nose; this would give her a headache for sure. Even her own daughter was against her. For the moment she wished she didn't have such a stubborn daughter, would've made a lot of things easier in her life, especially since her daughter was more stubborn than she herself.

* * *

_**Six days later**_

"So Tsunade, what is your answer?" Orochimaru asked his former teammate, he knew that his offer was very hard to resist, the two persons she cherished the most brought back to life just for healing his arms. It wasn't that hard of a choice was it?

"I'll… heal your arms, if you promise to leave Konoha alone," with a wicked smile Orochimaru walked over to the blonde nodding at her, slowly lifting his nearly unmoving arms upwards so that she could heal them easier. Her already green glowing hands were just about to touch his arms when two thrown kunai forced them both to jump backwards.

Looking up at the perpetrator Orochimaru saw Kabuto, "Why come this far; only to betray me… Tsunade?" reaffirming it Tsunade rushed Orochimaru who jumped aside, her punch reducing the wall that had been behind him to a fine dust.

"How could you come to an answer like this Tsunade-hime, to try to kill me?" Orochimaru asked as his yellow eyes questioned the blonde, "I was really intending to revive those two; I even promised to leave Konoha alone,"

"Heh, Nawaki and Dan were among the most important people to me, and I would really have loved to see their faces once more," Tsunade said, tears starting to well up in her eyes at the thought, "However, if I had agreed to your deal then I would have upset someone that's even more close to me, that's why!"

"So the deal's off… No choice then… we'll have to force you," before Orochimaru had a chance to attack Tsunade moved, delivering an axe kick that the pair avoided. Kabuto stared in wonder at the crater the kick created.

"It's a bit crowded here Orochimaru-sama, how about we move away from here,"

"You want to move the fight?" Orochimaru asked his servant. He could see no reason why the battle couldn't be fought here.

"I spotted someone with Tsunade's assistant that could be trouble, he's like you and Tsunade, one of the sannin," without a word Orochimaru followed by Kabuto jumped away. They didn't get that very far outside the village, about five minutes outside the village the pair found that Tsunade had managed to catch up; along with her was the one they had hoped to avoid.

* * *

"Orochimaru," Jiraiya said coldly as he stared down on his former teammate from atop Gamabunta. The moment of attention that Orochimaru and Kabuto gave Jiraiya was something Tsunade decided to capitalize on as she rushed in to deliver a killing punch to the snake summoner.

Kabuto was too slow to react as Tsunade charged, there was no way he could manage to land a blow against the woman, however her could do something that would get her out of the fight anyway.

Naruto watched in numbness as Kabuto took out a kunai and cut himself in the right arm, the blood spraying all over Tsunade. He watched as Tsunade froze all her movement and started to shake. _'Why are they fighting?'_

Tsunade was sent flying by Kabuto as he delivered a fierce punch, luckily for the blonde woman her assistant was quick to jump off Gamabunta and catch her before she crashed towards the ground. Kaname was hot on Shizune's heels as they retreated a distance away from where the fight was about to commence.

"Kabuto-san, why?" Naruto asked the man who'd introduced himself as a fellow genin in the exams back in Konoha.

"You're so thick Naruto-kun," Kabuto said as he looked to the blond genin, "That's why you can't compare to Sasuke-kun,"

"Look at his hitai-ite carefully Naruto," Jiraiya said to his student, "He's Orochimaru's subordinate,"

"That's right, I'm an Oto spy,"

"Mom, what's happened to you?" Orochimaru's attention was focused on the girl that was shaking Tsunade's near catatonic body.

"Kabuto, help me summon, after that I want you to go for the little girl, use her to force Tsunade to help us," Orochimaru ordered as he stared at Jiraiya. The silver-haired boy removed the bandage on Orochimaru's left arm and swiped a small stream of blood over it, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu," a huge plume of smoke appeared, a single large snake revealed from the cloud's confines, Kabuto no longer present.

"Naruto, help Shizune to protect Tsunade and her daughter, I'll deal with Orochimaru," Jiraiya said as he pointed to Kabuto who was dashing towards Tsunade. It didn't take long before Naruto was off in the same direction.

Naruto watched as Shizune fought against Kabuto, but the fight was going in Kabuto's favor as he managed to avoid her poison mist and cut her ankle tendons. He reached the pair of fighters just as Shizune was sent to the side unconscious from a punch to her head.

"Naruto-kun," Kabuto said neutrally as he saw the blond boy standing in his way, "I've realized now that you stand no chance against Sasuke-kun," the fierce glare Naruto gave him was laughable from Kabuto's perspective, "Here you're just a misplaced genin even if you make such a scary face. You may have the power of the Kyūbi within you, but compared to the sannin that assembled here you are worthless, you're like a bug. If you try something here…" the threat was left hanging by the youth.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto created four clones, rushing the Oto-nin. The assault was easily dismantled by Kabuto as he spun around, blinding the two clones furthest to his right with blood from his still open wound. Grabbing the leftmost clone he used it ass a bat and swatted at the others, dispelling the clones and sending the original flying backwards. Before Naruto landed on the ground Kabuto followed up on the attack with a vicious punch that made a huge impact in the ground.

"Well, with that out of the way," Kabuto said as he walked towards Tsunade after looking down at Naruto's unmoving form for a few seconds, "I'll get right onto business," Kabuto dodged the punch that the blonde girl attempted to hit him with and with the momentum he had from the move he grabbed her throat and lifted her from the ground even as she attempted to kick him.

"Tsunade-sama, I believe it would be in your best interest to help Orochimaru-sama, unless you want any harm to be done to this girl," Kabuto said as he held a kunai to Kaname's stomach as well to discourage the girl from trying to kick him.

From her catatonic state Tsunade could only watch as Kabuto threatened to harm her daughter unless she helped Orochimaru, there was no way that she could do anything, both the distance and the blood that covered her stopping her.

"Perhaps you don't see how serious this is," Kabuto said, back behind him Orochimaru wasn't faring too well so it was impervious that his master was healed soon. He turned the girl around so that she faced Tsunade and held onto her neck so that she wouldn't pass out from suffocation.

The sensation as the kunai entered her stomach was shocking and her entire world was filled with pain, but it didn't stop there; in the distance she could hear someone cry a terrifying scream filled with pain. As the pain was dulling after what seemed like an eternity she felt the man twist the kunai from within the wound, she realized then that it was she who had been screaming all along. The grin on the man antagonizing her never disappeared as her world started to fade to black, only to it to return as the man used a medical jutsu to keep her conscious.

Kabuto noticed too late as the girl was wrestled out from his hands by Naruto who gently put her down next to Tsunade. _'He's limping from when I punched him into the ground, did I manage to break one of his bones?'_

"You're gonna pay for hurting Kana-chan!" Naruto said as he pointed to Kabuto, his features looking animalistic as his eyes had changed color and appearance to demonic red.

"That's it Naruto-kun, for your insolence I'll kill you!" Kabuto stated as he charged towards the blond, the kunai aimed for the boy. Judging from Naruto's moments his right leg was badly injured.

To his surprise Naruto had blocked the attack by taking the kunai in his hand and held onto Kabuto's right hand. He watched as chakra started to circle in Naruto's right hand. Tsunade noticed it was just like the night when he had challenged her… or no, this time it was spinning faster and more compressed. "Rasengan!"

"Looks like you'll have to give me that necklace after all, old lady," Naruto said, turning around to Tsunade who still was unable to move. She watched as he staggered towards her, passed her a short distance and fell down on his knees. There at his knees she saw her daughter, the kunai still deeply embedded in her stomach, it was with that realization that her daughter had been badly wounded that she rushed into action and carefully withdrew the offending object.

Up from his summon Orochmaru watched the defeat that his subordinate suffered and how Tsunade seemed to have snapped out of her catatonic state and stopped trembling. The odds were greatly against his favor. "Manda, take Kabuto, we're retreating," even as Gamabunta tried to stop the large snake from picking up the silver-haired boy the snake managed to nestle its way past the large toad, picking up the boy with its tongue.

Jiraiya watched as Manda slithered away, "Bunta, we're staying here," he commanded before the toad jumped off.

"Why, this is our chance, he's greatly weakened at the moment,"

"So am I, I don't know how much longer I can keep this front up," Jiraiya said as he fell down on his back atop Gamabunta, "Tsunade slipped something into my sake last night, luckily Tsunade's daughter could make a semi-effective antidote, but I'm still very weakened at the current, it was a miracle I was able to summon you,"

"Come on kid, don't die on me," Naruto watched as Tsunade's hands glowed a bright green as she held them above the wound that Kaname had received, even though the wound had been healed Kaname's vitals weren't improving, "Please Kami-sama, I can't take another loss," the tears that started to freely flow from Tsunade's eyes had Naruto cursing himself for not being faster, not only was Tsunade fearing that her daughter was dying, but it was also his new friend. He watched as Shizune looked on in the distance, unable to move over.

"Why… are you crying… ka-chan?" the inquiring voice from below had shocked Tsunade even as a hand weakly closed in on her face, "You know… you'll have… to give that necklace… to Naruto-kun now…" she felt as the necklace that used to belong to her grandfather was ripped away from her.

The tears of sorrow were replaced with those of relief as she watched her unconscious daughter's smiling face as she held the necklace a few inches away from an equally relieved Naruto.

"Hey brat," Tsunade said gaining Naruto's attention as she attempted to dry her still flowing tears with the sleeves of her jacket, "I'll take the title of Hokage, I wasn't thinking straight when I said those things,"

"That's good to heard old lady," Naruto said before he too passed out, having exhausted himself after the brief bout when he had used the Kyūbi's chakra.

* * *

Izumo and Kotetsu had landed themselves gate duty, probably one of the dullest and most leisure-able C-ranks available. Check the I.D. of any people that wanted to enter the village and the jut down the names in a journal. With the invasion the amount of checks they had to do had dropped dramatically since there were more teams doing missions where they helped to rebuild the village so it was even less work at the moment. Even more so when they were working during the night.

"Don't you wish something happened her for once?" Izumo questioned his friend who was busy with reapplying the bandage over his nose; having nothing better to do.

"Nah, this is good," his friend replied after a few moments.

"Hey, who's that?" Izumo asked, pointing down the dark road.

"Aren't you just imagining things now Izumo?" Kotetsu questioned once he was done and turned towards the road, seeing no-one.

"I swear there's someone walking over there," Izumo protested even as he himself was unable to see anyone there now as well.

"Not a faulty observation, but shouldn't you say something along the lines of 'halt, who's there' when you see someone you can't identify closes in on the gates, especially with how Konoha recently was under attack?" a third voice asked, the source originating from between the two men before they jumped back in surprise.

"Ah, Jiraiya-sama, you're back?" Kotetsu asked, still standing with his kunai ready.

"Yes, the great Jiraiya-sama has returned with his student after successfully accomplishing the mission, so that means Tsunade and her two apprentices are with me," Jiraiya said proudly. _'Perhaps best if Tsunade drops the bomb to the council later, better she tells the old coots than they hear it by the rumor mill,'_

It was then that the two chūnin saw four others walking up the booth, or more specifically three persons walking up as the fourth was riding on the back of one.

"Naruto-kun, I can walk just fine, it's embarrassing if anyone saw this when walking through the village, besides aren't you tired," the person riding piggyback complained.

"No way Kana-chan, it still hurts right," Naruto said to his newest friend, carrying a friend who was hurting was nothing if it eased their pain.

"Just let the boy be; you should have learned by now that he's even more stubborn than you are," the blonde woman walking beside them said.

"Jiraiya, can we go inside?" Tsunade asked the white haired man, who in turn looked to Kotetsu and Izumo.

"Yeah, just walk on in," Jiraiya said upon seeing the pair nod at the unspoken question, "See you guys later then," he told the pair before he too set off after Tsunade.

"Okay, one of the sannin just sneaked up on us and then one more walked through the gates, you happy now Izumo?" Kotetsu asked once he was sure they were out of earshot.

* * *

"I'm surprised you actually managed to get her to come," Homura said as he surveyed the blonde woman as they stood atop the Hokage tower.

"Well, you know being as handsome as me; something like that isn't very difficult for me," Jiraiya said proudly before giving off a boisterous laugh.

"Well, let's gather the local lords then and celebrate the inauguration of the Godaime Hokage," Koharu said before turning towards the two tokubetsu jōnin standing there as well, "Genma, Aoba; announce this to the village,"

"Wait a sec; she's still got some stuff to do!" Naruto said, the original reason he'd been told why they were going after her not having been attended.

Waking up Uchiha Sasuke and Hatake Kakashi hadn't proved to be much of a deal for Tsunade, Rock Lee however was a whole other matter, the damage to him was severe, at best he would have a fifty percent chance to survive the operation procedure that would enable him to be an active shinobi again, her best advice for him was to quit being a ninja.

* * *

She could only sigh as the last sheet of paper was put in the "out" box. Second day in the village and she'd been forced to sign five stacks of papers already, the council had avoided all paperwork during the time when Konoha lacked a Hokage. And then she had not-so-very-important papers left to sign that accounted to ten stacks. She let her eyes travel over the office, wondering where a good place to hide sake could be. She had a good feeling she would need it.

"Ka-chan," the voice of her daughter interrupted her thoughts as the door was thrown open.

"Shush, what did I tell you, call me Tsunade-shishou here," Tsunade scolded Kaname who looked sheepish as Shizune helped the girl walk in.

"I don't get why we have to be so secretive about you being my mother," Kaname complained, her now blue eyes staring at her mother. Wearing contacts was such a drag!

"Because the council is a pain," Tsunade replied, "Now what are you here for, didn't I tell you just to rest back in the house?"

"It's boring there," Kaname responded as she slowly walked around, inspecting the office with Shizune's aid, "Chūnin exam evaluation…" she mumbled as she picked up a paper from one of the stacks Tsunade hadn't gone through yet, "You think Naruto-kun participated in the exam?"

"Yeah he did, he was upset when he saw the Nara boy wearing the vest earlier,"

"Hm…" Kaname started to flip through the papers looking at the results, "Well from what the judges gave him he should have passed, if just barely… or no wait; there's some veto against his promotion here,"

"What?! Let me see that," Tsunade said, suddenly feeling invigorated. Kaname walked over with the papers before sitting down in one of the chairs before the desk. "Those old bats…" Tsunade mumbled, the advisors had vetoed the motion to have Uzumaki Naruto promoted, well too bad for them that the Hokage had a stronger veto, meaning there would be two promotions from that exam. Since the results hadn't been officially approved by the Hokage she was allowed to change it. _'Congratulations on a promotion then brat,'_

"Well, Shizune can you arrange for someone to get Uzumaki Naruto here to receive his promotion to chūnin," Tsunade asked as she signed the document after going over it one last time, checking if there was anything else that seemed off, luckily there wasn't.

It took about twenty minutes before Naruto showed up, wondering why he had been summoned, having a flak jacket thrown in his face hadn't been on the list of things he expected.

"Congratulations on the promotion, gaki," Tsunade said at seeing the dumbfound expression on his face as he sat on the floor, the vest still over him.

"Congratulations Naruto-kun," Kaname said as well while giving him a smile.

"Wha…?" he still didn't really get it; he'd gotten a chūnin jacket thrown at him… did that mean?

"You became a chūnin, is that so hard to fathom?" Tsunade asked the blond boy, who nodded weakly after a little while. "Well, get that into that thick skull of yours, now off with you… and take Kana-chan with you so that she learns what the village looks like, can't have her here annoying me all day when I have work to do,"

"Alright," Naruto said as he rose up, occasionally fingering the vest, seeing if it was real before taking it on.

"You'll have to help me walk Naruto-kun, but I'm not riding piggyback today!" Kaname said as she rose from the chair, wincing a little as the injury made itself reminded.

"Hey, what's happened to your eyes Kana-chan?" Naruto asked upon seeing that her eyes were blue instead of their golden-brown color.

"Tsunade-_shishou_ doesn't want anyone finding out our relation, something about the old bats on the council," the girl answered as the pair started to walk out of the office, "Now that we're in a fairly large village and you got a new flashy vest… let's find a clothing store so we can buy clothes that doesn't clash so terribly with the vest. Orange just doesn't work with olive-green," Naruto was just about to protest, but the glare sent his way left no room for argument, so he started to lead the girl towards the market district.

* * *

She was shocked when the storeowner at first denied her access when she walked inside with Naruto, however at the mention of being the Hokage's apprentice and how denying her access to the store would be a big mistake she'd been allowed to browse through the clothes along with Naruto.

"Hm… black, definitely black clothes," Kaname declared after browsing through the available apparels.

"With a little orange," Naruto piped in, but quieted at the glare she sent his way.

"Does not fit with the vest; besides that orange stands out way too much, it's bad enough with your blond hair really," Kaname said as she picked out some clothes and sent him inside the booth to test them out.

Looking himself in the mirror Naruto found that it was pretty much the same as what Kakashi was wearing, minus the mask… though a mask might be cool. But that idea was soon scrapped, the mask was Kakashi's thing. Though it was with a heavy heart, Naruto did have to agree that it would fit better with the clothes he was trying it with the vest. Walking outside he could see that Kaname was glad as she watched him showcase the clothes.

"Perfect, now to pay for them and some extra pairs," she said before marching off towards the register, dragging Naruto with her.

"But what about my old suit," Naruto protested as he was dragged off.

"Leave it there; you aren't going to need it anymore," Kaname said, "Here's the money you'll need to pay for it along with three extra sets,"

"Sure, that's four thousand ryō," the man said smiling from behind the desk after Naruto asked for another three sets and was offering the money given to him by Kaname.

The glare she sent the man while limping towards the counter had chills going down the old man's spine, "The price tags tell me it should be a total of four hundred ryō for four sets, don't try anything old man,"

"But it's the…" the man protested.

"I wouldn't say any more," A voice interrupted from the entrance of the store, standing there was Jiraiya, "I see you got promoted gaki, congratulations… and thank god Kaname-chan for getting him some new clothes."

Before she could blink she found that the three extra sets of clothes she wanted had been set up on the desk and the four hundred ryō Naruto had been holding up had disappeared while the old man was working with the register. Seemed like Jiraiya had a lot of respect here even though he was a super pervert.

"Well then, let's continue the tour now that we've addressed the most pressing matter," Kaname announced, as Naruto carried the extra clothes in a bag in his right hand while supporting Kaname with his left. Jiraiya was walking a few steps behind the pair, unnerving them.

"So Ero-sennin, why are you following us?" Naruto questioned as they reached the Hokage tower.

"Can't a teacher look out for his student?" Jiraiya huffed indignantly,

"I'm sure that's fine Jiraiya-sama, however walking after your student while scribbling in a notepad that my mother tells me contains stuff that I shouldn't read I doubt it would be called looking out for your student, perhaps I should tell ka-chan about this?"

"Point taken, you two were boring anyways," Jiraiya said, slipping the notebook back inside his vest, "well, have fun showing off the village then Naruto, I'm off for some worthy research,"

"Okay, now that he's gone I'm gonna show you one of the most awesome places in Konoha," Naruto declared as the pair started to trek behind the Hokage tower, the climb up the mountain proved to be a rather slow process. The view however was well worth it once they stood atop the head of the Sandaime.

"Soon your mother's face will be here as well, just beside the Yondaime," Naruto said pointing to an area to their left just beside the stone head of the deceased Hokage.

"Yeah…" Kaname said, "You know… I've always wanted to see what my mother's home village was like; and here I am, looking over the village from the monument of her teacher. I'm even about to start life here, ka-chan said she'd even let me join the shinobi forces once she found an opening in the teams to let me join, but that's another two months before the next batch of genin graduates from the academy,"

"Why can't you just join, you've trained with your mother right?" Naruto asked confused.

"It's because I haven't been operating in a team before and that I'm all new to Konoha, she wanted me to get to know people before I join the ranks, beside I can use the time until then to train, it just means I won't get to do any missions before that,"

The pair sat there for a while as Naruto pointed at the various areas of Konoha, explaining what each part contained with a fire burning in his eyes as he talked about certain places like the academy where 'Iruka-sensei' worked or the ramen stand with 'Teuchi-ochan and Ayame-neechan' which he apparently frequented for meals.

"Naruto-kun, how about we head back now, I feel hungry; maybe you can show me that Ichiraku ramen place?"

"Sure thing Kana-chan!" Naruto said jubilantly, he was never going to say no to eat at Ichiraku, and now he had a lot of money as well, "Just gonna pass by my apartment to drop the new clothes off,"

* * *

Kakashi wasn't really surprised when he heard Naruto's jubilant voice from the Ichiraku ramen stand. The kid didn't miss a chance to eat at his favorite place it seemed.

"And then I used my new move and blasted him away, you should have seen it Iruka-sensei!" Kakashi decided to take a meal as well; he was hungry after being forced to only eat hospital food since he woke up the day before and now he had finally been released.

"Oh, Naruto, you… I see congratulations are in place," Kakashi said surprised when he saw his student sitting there with Iruka, gone was the orange jumpsuit, replaced with clothing similar to his own; he was even wearing a flak jacket.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei! I was just telling Iruka-sensei about the awesome new move I learned," Naruto said as Kakashi sat down on the stool next to Iruka.

"Care to tell me something about it?" Kakashi asked his blond student before ordering a miso ramen for himself.

"Instead of tell you I can show it to you and Iruka sensei later," Naruto said proudly as before finishing the bowl he had in front of him, "Ah, I'm full," he declared as he set the bowl atop the small pile of seven bowls he'd created. Now that Kakashi was the only one who had yet to finish his meal the silver-haired jōnin found that the two chūnin were staring at him intently, waiting to see his face.

He was thankful when the girl to Naruto's right sneezed, garnering the chūnins' attention for a moment; enough for him to finish off the meal. Second time he'd been saved at Ichiraku by a third part he noted.

As they walked towards the training fields Kakashi noted that the blonde girl was following them, or rather, Naruto was supporting her as they walked, "Naruto, is that your new girlfriend?"

"What? No, you know I love Sakura! I'm just showing this girl around the village since she's new and all!" Naruto protested as the girl was blushing while sputtering protests along Naruto's lines. Kakashi found that the girl reminded him of someone, he just couldn't place who it was.

"Well then, can you really showcase the move with her here, I see she has no hitai-ite?" Kakashi continued as they reached the training field.

"Of course, she helped me figuring out how to do it," Naruto said as he helped her to sit down on a large rock. Walking away a few meters towards the edge of the training field Naruto took up a dramatic stance, "Now watch this Kakashi sensei!"

Kakashi's visible eye widened as he watched something began to form in Naruto's hand, "It's the…"

"Rasengan!" Naruto said as he shoved the jutsu into a tree; the resulting splintering kicking up a large dust cloud as the tree was torn in two.

"Naruto, who taught you that technique?" Kakashi questioned, he really shouldn't be surprised; the boy was the number one unpredictable ninja after all.

"Ero-sennin did," at the inquisitive look that Kakashi and Iruka gave him the girl spoke up for the first time.

"He means Jiraiya-sama; it's just Naruto-kun's way of endearment calling him Ero-sennin,"

"Excuse me, who are you? I don't think I've seen you before," Kakashi said,

"Kakashi-san, shouldn't you present yourself before speaking with a lady," Iruka said as he elbowed the older man.

"Ah, sorry if I offended you, I'm Hatake Kakashi by the way, Naruto's teacher," Kakashi said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"None taken," the girl said as she smiled at the man, "I'm Kaname, Tsunade-sama's apprentice,"

He could tell that she wasn't lying, but he had a feeling that she'd left something out there, but for now he'd let it slip, he was sure he would find out in due time.

"Well then, how about we check up on Sasuke now Naruto-kun, I think he should be up and about now as well, you can join us as well Iruka-kun," Kakashi said as he smiled at them all. Perhaps talking with the girl would give it away.

"I'm afraid I'll have to pass, I have a mission early tomorrow so I need to fill up on some supplies," Iruka said before starting to leave, "It was nice meeting you Kaname-san, a friend of Naruto's is also a friend of mine. And once again Naruto, congratulations on the promotion,"

"Thanks Iruka-sensei and good luck on the mission," Naruto said to the waving chūnin as the trio walked towards the hospital.

"So Kaname-san, you're a kunoichi then?"

"Not officially, Tsunade-shishou said I'd have to wait until the next batch of genin graduates before I can join officially, until then I'll have to settle with simply training, something about getting to know people and learning teamwork properly," Kaname said a little bitterly Kakashi noted.

"Well, maybe you can come and observe when my team do some missions if you'd like, at least as long as they're D-rank," Kakashi said, Naruto visibly blanched at the mention of D-rank missions.

* * *

As they entered the hospital room where Sasuke was staying they found it to be in somewhat of a mess, there was broken glass and apple slices over the floor as Sakura stood there, holding her hands to her chest worriedly.

The stare directed at Naruto as Sasuke saw his dress had Kakashi narrowing his eyes. That wasn't a gaze one gave a comrade, for a moment Kakashi was prepared to defend Naruto from an attack from the Uchiha before the boy snapped his head around after giving Kakashi a quick gaze, huffing as he did so.

"Naruto… why are you wearing a vest?" Sakura asked as the awkward silence prevailed in the room as Sasuke refused to look at the visitors.

"I got promoted!" Naruto said as he grinned like a Cheshire cat, "So how about you go on a date with me to celebrate,"

The resulting punch that sent Naruto to the floor had Kakashi wincing while Kaname's face darkened slightly. _'This is a team?'_ she questioned as Sakura berated the blond team member as Kakashi attempted to dissuade the situation. Eventually the pinkette relented after stating that she never would go out with Naruto.

"Well then, you guys play nice," Kakashi said as he saw a bird land on the windowsill, _'A mission already?'_

"Well then, maybe we should leave now as well Naruto-kun, your teammates still seems a little beat from being under that jutsus effect," Kaname suggested, the pair was just about to leave when Sasuke spoke up, having turned back towards Naruto again.

"Fight me, Naruto," he demanded; the sneer present on his face again. Naruto wasn't slow to match it as he turned around.

"All…" a hard poke to his ribs stopped his reply, looking at the girl on his side he saw her shaking her head, thinking after he too found the idea a little preposterous, he'd gotten promoted to chūnin yet Sasuke hadn't that had to count for something right? "No thanks Sasuke,"

"It wasn't a request Naruto, just let the bitch care for herself and fight me!" Naruto found that Sasuke was charging up towards him, but before he had a chance to react other than taking up a defensive stance he felt that Kaname's presence had disappeared completely. He watched in amazement as a single punch sent Sasuke airborne before he reached Naruto, Sasuke's form soon wrecking the inside of the room while Sakura stared at the blonde girl in amazement.

"Do not ever dare insult me ever again, boy," Kaname said as she stared down on the now unconscious boy darkly before she limped over to Naruto again, giving him a pleasant smile as she took a firm grip on his left arm.

"Shall we go Naruto-kun?" she asked as she started to walk out of the room with him following slowly just as a nurse came rushing into the room.

Soon the nurse was out of the room, "Uzumaki Naruto, what have you done to Uchiha-san!" the nurse accused the blond as she walked over to the boy, "I'm going to report this to the head of the hospital, attacking a fellow Konoha shinobi is a serious crime,"

"I'll have you know that Uzumaki-san did nothing, I was the one who knocked that boy out after he attempted to attack us, it was purely in self defense," Kaname said as she stared at the nurse coldly, "So don't come with false accusations when you weren't even there," with that she once more lead Naruto out of the hospital.

* * *

_**Two weeks later**_

"You want to what Jiraiya?!" Tsunade said as she stared at the man in disbelief.

"I said I wanted to bring Naruto along on a three-year training trip, along with Kaname-chan," the white-haired man said as he stood back up, her yell having sent him in a crouching stance, prepared to be hit by the blonde woman.

"I can understand Naruto, but why Kana-chan as well?"

"Well, you don't want the council to know she's your daughter right, if she's with me they won't figure that out since she won't be in the village anymore,"

"Just how do you plan that she can enter the Konoha forces smoothly if she doesn't get to interact with a team beforehand?" Tsunade protested, "And how can I trust you with my daughter…"

"It'll be no problem, Naruto can fix that; he's got his way with people, besides they've been hanging around with Naruto's fellow genin the last two weeks all the time," Jiraiya responded, besides it wasn't like foreign ninja that joined Konoha were ostracized, so why would someone that was the daughter of one of the sannin be? The hard part would be to convince Tsunade that he could handle taking care of the girl as well.

"I'm sure I'll be fine Tsunade-_shishou_," the voice coming from the window surprised the two sannin, how'd Kaname managed to sneak up to the office, and just how much had she heard?

"Yeah, if Ero-sennin tries anything I'll kick him good," Naruto added as he too popped up with his head.

"You two, beat it!" Tsunade ordered as she walked over to the windows, closing them. Sitting down on the desk she activated a seal, soundproofing the room.

"Jiraiya, I'll trust you with the two of them, but I want them back in three years time or I'll personally castrate you! What I'm about to tell you is in total confidence, and I trust that you won't tell anyone about this unless I clear you to do so," the white haired man nodded as his face adopted a somber appearance. As Tsunade started the tale his skin became increasingly paler, until his skin had almost the same complexion as his hair, as Tsunade finished the man fainted. _'At least he won't cause a problem now… I hope,"_

* * *

The morning after Kaname and Naruto had been summoned to the office where they had been told in detail about the training trip, after being dismissed the two went to pack the belongings they wanted to bring along on the trip. Now the two stood along with Jiraiya at the main gate, ready to set out. Just as they were about to set out they were stopped as Tsunade had appeared.

"Were you just going to leave just like that Kana, without my going away present," Tsunade scolded pleasantly, "close your eyes for a moment," the girl did as she was told, she felt something being tied around her neck and something heavy and round was put in her hands; after she felt her mother kiss her forehead she was told to open her eyes. Around her neck a forehead protector had been tied and in her hands she held a large scroll.

"Now, guard that scroll tightly, it's a family scroll and I'm trusting it to you, make me proud of you as a kunoichi," Tsunade said as she hugged her daughter.

"Yes, ka-chan," the girl replied as tears started to flow from her eyes, unable to control herself.

"All right, enough with the mushy stuff, let's go already, Naruto is way ahead of us!" Jiraiya said annoyed, only to cower at the glares he received from the two Senju females. However the two parted after a few moments and Tsunade watched as Jiraiya and her daughter started to run after the energetic blond that'd set out before them even though Jiraiya was the only one who knew what their first destination would be.

* * *

A/N: This has been simmering in my head for quite a while, and now with how hard the words came to me for Arashi no Mae I decided to write this and see where it would lead. Hopefully it'll help me get going with Arashi no Mae once I get this out of my head, so anywho, some changes made to canon here (obvious one is that Tsunade has a daughter,) and more to come. Here Naruto set out with Jiraiya before Sasuke defected to Oto, so that'll mean some major changes. I didn't feel like doing a total retelling of all events in canon that remain as in canon, so some have been left out from this writing, hopefully you guys can fill out the blanks yourselves. The plan is to focus on Jiraiya and his two new students' travels; the other genin will come into play once they return to Konoha.


	2. Travel, return, test

A/N: This was rather hard to write really, but I hope you guys find it to be alright; at least I'm pretty pleased with it. I know I said it would focus on their travels… but it didn't come out that way in a true way, so the story will go on more depth once they are at the Shippūden start, but I have some stuff before that at least. Some major changes will be revealed here, read and find out.

* * *

_**One and a half year after setting out**_

"Hello; and welcome to Hayashimizu's inn, how may I help you?" the inn manager asked the trio that just entered.

"We'd like to rent two rooms for a week to begin with, total of 3 persons" Jiraiya said as he took out his wallet, containing money he'd taken from Naruto.

"That'll be 560 ryō," the owner told the white-haired man as he took out two keys, receiving the money he handed over the keys, "Welcome back Jiraiya-sama,"

The white-haired man thanked the inn manager before he started to lead his two students down the hallways, eager to do what he did best.

"So Naruto, you're staying in room 126 with me," Jiraiya said while handing the blond boy the key, "Kaname you get room 127. Now I'm off for some research, see you guys later," Kaname got her key and before she could protest to Jiraiya's plan of the evening he was gone.

"Damn pervert," Kaname grumbled, ever since she'd increased her skill with using the strength that her mother possessed the man had seemingly become much faster quickly as he now was impossible to catch for the girl, "Naruto, I'm going outside to see what they got to offer in shopping, and casinos, you know how to find me," she announced after a few moments, the boy nodded before walking into his room, unsealing a book from one of the scrolls contained in his flak jacket.

Sitting down at the table the boy took out another scroll and laid it out on the table before he started to read the book, occasionally he would look up from the book to dot down something in the scroll. He sat like that for about two hours before he gave off a loud sigh, standing up he moved his hands into the ram seal, "Kage bunshin no jutsu" four clones appeared in clouds of smoke, "You guys read these books, I'm off," Naruto ordered as he unsealed another three books so that the extra clones could read something as well.

* * *

Kaname wasn't having a blast at the casino so far, it seemed like Naruto stayed for a longer period of time reading the book of sealing that Jiraiya had given him a month ago, _'Did he find some other explosive seal again?' _she silently wondered. The last three times the boy had gotten stuck in person in reading the book was when he found notes on the production on different explosive notes. Across her sat a slightly round nobleman dressed in fine robes, smiling at her lecherously even as he groped at the woman he had sitting at his side. If she didn't tell herself she did this to win some money and wipe that smug smirk of his face she would drop her henge and kick his ass, but alas.

"Mind if I join?" turning to her right she, to her immense relief, saw Naruto standing there in his transformed state.

"No, there's a spot open still," Kaname said as she gestured to the seat beside her. He had arrived just as another round was about to begin. _'Now the game begins,'_

By the end of the evening Kaname's walled had been emptied, its contents currently in Naruto's control. The man across her wasn't smiling quite as much anymore as the redness in his face had increased as his drink consumption upon loosing two hundred thousand ryō in one evening. The man had then accused Naruto of cheating, something that she had scoffed at as she'd seen the man himself attempting to cheat; only to get caught by the dealer.

"Well, it was a nice evening, but I think it's about time for me to leave, good night and thank you for a pleasant evening," Naruto said before collecting his money; giving Kaname a hand sign that meant he would meet her in ten minutes at the hotel. Kaname also excused herself and was about to stand up when she felt the noble's hand grip her wrist.

"Well, since us both lost quite the sums today, how about we indulge ourselves in something that'll get us a little cheerier?"

"No thanks, I must return to my hotel, I have an early morning tomorrow," Kaname said as she broke free from his grip, before she got long however two large bodyguards appeared before her, looking around she noted that the area around her table had been rather deserted.

"Oh, I must insist,"

"Don't you have a girlfriend already?" she asked as she looked for an escape, judging from the bodyguards' chakra levels they had be have been ninja before being hired, she'd guess they were at least chūnin level. Her chances for escape were slim at best without destroying something.

"Oh, she doesn't care about that, right Rei?" the noble said,

"No Matsugawa-sama, I wouldn't mind," the woman who had been sitting at the man's side the entire evening said. Kaname was just about to force her way out, sending chakra to her legs to augment her speed, however before she could move she felt one of the bodyguards slap something on her arm.

"Oh no you don't" the guard said, looking at it she saw a paper seal that she had seen Naruto look at for quite some time. It would drain a person of most of their chakra, leaving them limited to D-rank jutsu at best. She could feel as her chakra simply disappeared into the void that was the seal, she could just barely keep the henge up.

* * *

Naruto was starting to get worried, he'd left the casino an hour ago and Kaname had yet to return. During the last year the duo had been visiting casinos numerous times and she had yet to fail to meet up with him at the designated spots they had decided upon. The only distraction that could be provided for her was the shopping district, but that was since long closed down. _'I should check the casino, just in case,'_ he knew she'd probably take insult in that he would go and look if she had gotten in trouble, but he didn't care about it; that much.

"Kana-chan!" Naruto's voice as he entered the casino took the attention of the slightly round noble that was currently groping the sloshed and crying girl who by now was out of her henge, no longer able to maintain the control needed in her intoxicated state, "What the hell is wrong with you; you sick pervert! And all of you people just watching this!" Naruto accused the noble, and then the surrounding people that simply were avoiding the 'pair'. Just as he was about to march over the man's two bodyguards intervened, standing in Naruto's way.

"Leave now, you're underage," the right bodyguard ordered as he closed in on Naruto, intent on throwing the kid out. Before he could touch the boy however he felt himself flying backwards as his stomach exploded in pain from a brutal blow from the boy before he fainted. The other bodyguard barely had the time to register his partner disappearing before a kick sent him flying as well, his head solidly colliding with the wall before he lost consciousness.

The noble sat in his seat shaking; the boy was literally glowing red and sent out a killing intent that was nearly suffocating him. The next thing he knew was a world of pain as he was kicked in the groin before he passed out from another blow to his stomach.

Naruto was jumping from roof to roof heading towards the hotel, a sobbing Kaname on his back.

"And… And then… He…" she was a total wreck, and very drunk at that.

"Shh… Kana-chan," Naruto said soothingly, "I kicked him real good before knocking him out and placing a special seal on him," the two just entered the hotel, luckily the lobby was deserted at the moment.

"T-… That's good… Naruto-kun," she said, she could no longer shed any tears, the sobs and hiccups was all she could manage.

"I'll take care of you, no matter what it takes," Naruto announced as he opened the door to her room after fumbling with taking the key from her.

"Really?" she asked him as he sat her down on her bed.

"Really," Naruto said decisively staring into her eyes, to his great surprise the girl leaned forward; firmly placing her lips upon his, as he tried to jump back he found she had taken a hold around his back, holding him in place.

"Please stay here tonight Naruto-kun," she said after releasing the lip lock, staring at him intently through puffy red eyes, her hiccups now gone.

"I… I think I shouldn't do that… with your current state…" Naruto said as he started back off, her grip had since loosened upon him. He watched as her shoulders started to quiver and she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Please Naruto-kun, I beg you. Just… just hold me, the thought of that man… what he did…" She said as the hiccupping returned in full force.

"Alright, I'll stay," Naruto said, defeated, as her sat down beside her. Soon the two lay in the bed, holding each other as Kaname started to drift off into slumber.

"At least he didn't get to take my first kiss," Kaname said weakly just before sleep claimed her. Naruto just lay there, unmoving for hours as Kaname restlessly started to toss around in the bed occasionally, screaming out in fright. It was just as he noted that the sun was rising through the window that his own mind went blank.

* * *

Out of all things Jiraiya were expecting as he walked into his and Naruto's room at nine o'clock it wasn't the room to be empty, both beds still untouched. _'Where the hell is the brat?'_

"Kana-chan?" the man asked through the door of his other student's room. When he received no response he decided to picklock the door just to make sure. Opening the door carefully he saw that as pair of shoes were there, throwing the door open and walking inside. As he saw Kaname in the bed his whole world froze, there under the sheets nestled in with her was Naruto, the shape of an arm around her waist visible through the sheets.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing Naruto!" Jiraiya cried out indignantly as he pointed accusingly at the blond. The boy in question nearly jumped out of the bed, hadn't Kaname been holding onto him, stopping him in the motion.

"I swear I didn't do anything," Naruto said defensively from his sitting position, the sheets falling off him. Thankfully he was still fully clothed, looking down on Kaname however he didn't feel quite as comforted, her Haori had loosened up, leaving a good bit of her chest exposed for the world to see.

"Naruto… be quiet," she growled, her eyes squeezed shut as she took the pillow and placed it atop her head.

"Get out of the bed, the two of you!" Jiraiya ordered, Naruto was quick to jump out of the bed, standing as far away from the bed as possible. Kaname grudgingly moved out of the bed, covering her eyes as she rose to stand up. Naruto watched in interest as Jiraiya turned his head away upon noticing that the girl wasn't properly covered by her now displaced clothing, something out of character for the perverted man.

"Just what were the two of you doing in the same bed?" he asked, eying Naruto with a cold stare.

Naruto laid up a quick plan in his head, playing clueless might work with the perverted sage, "We were sleeping," the cold stare didn't disappear, in fact it only hardened at that, "Besides what would you care about that, aren't you the man who tries to encourage me to do perverted stuff,"

"Not when it involves…" Jiraiya carefully eyed the blonde girl; this could really hurt when he came back to Konoha. Tsunade's retribution would be swift and harsh.

"Naruto was just comforting me," Kaname said almost inaudible, just loud enough for the two males to hear, they could both tell from her tone that she was on the verge of starting to cry, "Yesterday when Naruto and I had finished cleaning a guy clean of money for the evening, we did as usual, Naruto would leave first with the earnings, I would follow after. But it was different, the man had shinobi guards and they kept me there and sealed my chakra… Then he… he forced me to… drink a lot of liquor… in my weakened state I couldn't fight him off… and every attempt to escape was stopped by the two guards… and then… then he started to molest me… I…" the girl was unable to continue as her sobs broke out in full force, tears freely streaming down her cheeks.

Confusion was spread over Jiraiya's face before a righteous rage was all that could be seen from his visage, slowly the man turned towards Naruto so that his attention was solely on Naruto, "Who was the fucking man, tell me Naruto,"

"Some noble, he's slightly round, somewhere around the thirties, his last name was Matsugawa I think," Naruto said slowly, Jiraiya's aura radiating bloodlust and scaring the shit out of him.

"He's gonna pay for touching her! Regent lord's son or not," Naruto only gulped in fear as his features whitened, it was only once Jiraiya had left that the words really sunk in as he stared at Kaname who between her heavy sobs looked gob-struck.

"Did he just say…?" Naruto said hesitantly, looking at Kaname for confirmation. She nodded weakly before she started falling backwards, her still weak body giving up on her. Naruto was quick to catch her before she hit the floor though. Hopefully there wouldn't be any political backlashes from what Jiraiya was about to do.

* * *

Jiraiya walked into Kaname's room an hour later to find Naruto seated on the sofa along with the girl, softly stroking her head as she slept with her head placed in his lap, her cheeks still red.

"How'd it go Jiraiya?" Naruto asked upon seeing the man.

"He ain't going to walk for while, and I doubt he'll think about molesting a girl anytime soon as well," Jiraiya said grimly, "How's she faring?"

"She's been sleeping since you left, collapsed just moments after you left the room actually," Naruto said. He felt her stirring just then, soon a hand found its way to his own, stopping his ministrations. It would take some while before they would move out again.

* * *

_**Two years after setting out**_

"Naruto, I know that you may get upset about I kept this a secret, but I think you should be ready to read this now," Jiraiya said as he removed a weathered letter from the inner pocket of his vest. _'He shouldn't be able to do that much now that he's exhausted, Kaname is ways off now so it should be safe,'_

Naruto rose up from the ground, taking the letter from the white-haired man. He noted that the seal had been opened, he looked at the man suspiciously, but seeing that it had been addressed to Jiraiya and Naruto he supposed it was all right.

_Jiraiya I hope you'll have the ability to not give this to Naruto directly__ as you read this, rather when you believe him to be ready to take part of the information pertained within. _

_Sometime during the night between the 12__th__ and 13__th__ of August Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura defected from the village. A pursuit team led by chūnin Nara Shikamaru consisting of Hyūga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba and Akimichi Chōji was sent after the pair. During the pursuit it was found that they were aided by four Oto-nins; resulting in a small scale battle where Hyūga Neji and Akimichi Chōji sustained severe wounds. The teamleader decided to withdraw at that point; judging that there was no way to win against the stronger force. _

_-Senju Tsunade, Godaime Hokage._

"What?!" Jiriaya watched as Naruto's squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, looking up at the white-haired sannin his eyes no longer cerulean blue; rather they had turned crimson and his pupils had become thin slits, "Is this true Ero-sennin?" a red cloak of chakra was now whirling around the boy, two 'tails' visible.

Jiraiya nodded hesitantly as Naruto's voice had become far more menacing than his usual merry tone, "It's all true Naruto," Silently the white-haired man crossed his fingers, hoping that

"Why!" it was with trepidation that Jiraiya watched as a third 'tail' appeared, he hoped that the boy wouldn't reach the four tailed state once again; he now knew that tampering with the seal to allow more of the kyūbi's chakra through was a mistake. He had to defuse the situation as fast as possible.

"I don't know, ever since they defected it's like they have disappeared from the face of the earth, but as far as we know they are with Orochimaru." Jiraiya said, immediately regretting his words as he saw the chakra coat ripple for a second as a fourth 'tail' started to rise up. He was preparing to make a quick escape if it truly manifested itself.

The fourth tail was just about to form when several pillars of wood appeared, surrounding the blond. Jiraiya could see a string of chakra going from Naruto into the woodlands, Jiraiya could only gasp as he saw Kaname walking out, her own hand attached to the same chakra string. His amazement only rose as he watched the red chakra starting to slowly recede, leaving a bare Naruto, his skin just slightly burned from the potent chakra that just barely had started to shroud him.

"That…" Jiraiya was in awe of what the girl had just done as she released the jutsu, collapsing to her knees from exhaustion.

"Mokuton, yes. I suppose you could say I've inherited my great grandfather's genes and affinities, I've been training in how to use it in secret and it seems like my first attempt at using it for real was successful. Good thing that all family jutsu was mentioned in the scroll Ka-chan sent with me," she said while she was slowly walking over to the boy who was writhing in pain from the strain of using the Kyūbi's chakra.

"The Kyūbi… you knew?" Jiraiya questioned, seeing that the girl was slowly stroking his forehead as she healed the burns with her right hand while being the perfect picture of serenity. She tried hard to ignore Naruto's piercing stare as he laid there on the ground.

"Jeez Ero-oyaji, the clues were all there, his birthday, the seal on his stomach, the way you talk to me about jinchūriki and how you sometimes leave on special training that leaves him exhausted for days, something that isn't usual with Naruto if its pure physical training. Last time you came back all bloody and as I healed your wound I noticed that you had received some form of very potent chakra poisoning hindering the healing process," Kaname said as she stood up, only to fall back down on the ground, her body very close to absolute exhaustion. The white-haired man sighed as he was forced to carry the two unconscious blondes.

* * *

When Naruto woke up he found himself inside a hotel room, comfortably tucked in under the sheets of a bed. However he didn't remember how he got there, the answer came staggering through the door soon enough though.

"You're finally up Naruto!" Jiraiya mumbled upon spotting the blond boy through his hazy vision. Naruto barely had time to register the large man walking over to him before he found the man on a collision course with him. He just barely managed to roll out of the bed before Jiraiya crashed there, out like a light.

"Naruto-kun, you're finally awake, Ero-oyaji was worried sick about you, so he went on a drinking rampage; emptied the hotel bar of all the alcohol. How are you now?"

"I'm fine… thanks for stopping me," she saw the fear in Naruto's eyes.

"Listen here Naruto-kun, I know that you're simply its jailor, I do not fear nor reject you for that," Kaname said seriously as she stared at the boy who cringed at the mention of being the beast's jailor.

"I…" his tone was apologetic, but she wouldn't have it from him.

"Don't; Naruto. As far as I've noticed the Kyūbi's chakra emerges when you're in a heightened emotional state, and I take it that's what happened yesterday when you manifested four tails?"

"Yes," Naruto said regretfully, "Ero-sennin gave me a letter from Tsunade… it dates back to about a week after we left Konoha, my old teammates… they deserted the village, supposedly they joined that guy, Orochimaru. Why would they do that?"

Kaname was stunned, how should she respond to that? "Track them down and beat it out of them perhaps?" Naruto just stared at her disbelievingly, "I'll even help you, besides if you want to be Hokage you'll have to deal with stuff like defecting ninja, sadly not everyone has as much pride in their village like you do," _'But I don't see why you like the village so much from what I saw from the two weeks I spent with you,'_

* * *

_**Two and a half year after setting out**_

"Name and motive?" the chūnin in the gate asked the man standing in front of him without looking up. It had been a long and stressful day, besides the ANBU had already cleared the whole line of suspicious people, that just the paperwork for the chūnin to log any people entering.

"Jiraiya of the sannin and his two apprentices, back from an extended training trip," Kotetsu looked up from the form he was filling out to the white-haired man standing before him along with Uzumaki Naruto and a girl that he didn't recognize as a citizen of Konoha, but she did have a Konoha hitai-ite.

"Well, I suppose I can let you guys in, Jiraiya-sama," Kotetsu said waving for them to move on, "Tsunade-sama wishes to see you first thing,"

Jiraiya dragged Naruto along before he could start a scene about the chūnin showing a lack of respect.

As Kaname walked down the streets of Konoha she noticed a difference towards the last time they had walked down the streets of Konoha, no longer were a majority of the people glaring or simply ignoring Naruto, rather some gave him stares of awe, and gratitude?

She didn't get long to ponder over that however as the trio quickly reached the Hokage tower, more specifically the Hokage's office.

"Jiraiya!" Tsunade exclaimed upon seeing the white-haired man entering the office, she didn't get so say much more than that before he interrupted her.

"Use the soundproofing seals," Jiraiya demanded as he walked over and closed all the windows shut and drew the curtains in front of them shrouding the interior of the office from outside view.

Tsunade did as she was told, "Why all this secrecy already?" she questioned once she was done with activating all the seals.

"Kaname, She has the ability to use Mokuton," Tsunade stared at Jiraiya like he'd grown a second head; before she in amazement watched as a small tree arose from the floor after Kaname went through a quick seal sequence. "She's also able to suppress the Kyūbi's chakra,"

"Anything else I should be aware of?" Tsunade asked, knowing how a nervous Jiraiya looked.

"Um… I modified Minato's seal a little, so it's not quite as strong anymore, other than that no," anything else important that happened during the trip was better told when he was a safe distance away from Tsunade's wrath he reasoned.

"You did what!?" Tsunade asked angrily as she looked from her old teammate to the boy who currently had the seal grafted onto his stomach.

"We're looking for a solution, promise!"

Tsunade sighed, "If that was all, I'd like to remove the seals and let some sunlight back in," at Jiraiya's nod she released the seals while he opened up the windows again, letting the light back in.

"Well then, I'd like to see just how much your students have grown during the travels. Hatake Kakashi has requested that he would be allowed to test Uzumaki Naruto upon his return,"

"So Naruto is back?" the question from the window sent Naruto barreling towards it.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said happily upon hearing the voice of the leader of his old team, "I've got something for you," Naruto reached into his pocket and withdrew a green book that had Tsunade give Jiraiya a harsh glare.

"That is…" Kakashi almost didn't dare to believe what he was seeing outstretched towards him, "the new Icha Icha book!" Carefully the silver-haired jōnin took the book, fearing any harm would befall the [to him] precious object.

"Kakashi, before you run off, please come inside," Tsunade said, knowing the masked jōnin's intentions as soon as he got the book.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," Kakashi nimbly climbed through the window and stood before the desk along with the other three ninja.

"I'd like to hear your and Naruto's opinion on the dissolving of team seven," Naruto looked at Tsunade angrily, but before he got to say anything, "Naruto, two members have gone rogue and you're a chūnin; the function of the genin team no longer exists. Rather I'd like to assign you as an apprentice to Kakashi,"

"Tsunade-sama, that sounds like an excellent idea," Kakashi was happy that one of his old students would remain, during the last two and a half years he had a lot of time to think.

"I… think what you say is acceptable, but what about missions?" Naruto surprised both Kakashi and Tsunade, they had thought his reaction would be in the nature of fierce resistance of the idea.

"You'll be doing missions with other chūnin and jōnin, just like all other chūnin. You'll be pleased to know that all of your friends have gained the rank of chūnin as well,"

"That was what I needed you for Kakashi, next time will be tomorrow at training field seven at noon for a small test,"

"Actually Tsunade…" Jiraiya interrupted, "I'd like for the two of them to run the obstacle course of training field seventy-five, Kakashi can help out though,"

Both Kakashi and Tsunade stared at the white-haired sannin like he'd lost his mind, "Honestly, they should be able to clear it," he said defensively, "Besides, what's the worst that can happen?" the two young blondes just looked at their elders in confusion.

"They can die!" Tsunade said incredulously. Kakashi minutely nodded his head in agreement, he wasn't about to see his sensei's legacy be killed in a simple test.

"They're too good to do that, besides, the last fatality there was like twenty years ago," Jiraiya said dismissively.

"What is so special about this obstacle course?" Naruto asked, his curiosity piqued by Jiraiya's insistence that they do it and Tsunade and Kakashi's reluctance to let them do it.

"It's the final test before ANBU trainees are allowed to enter the ANBU corps as full members," Jiraiya knew just how to lay down the words to excite Naruto; who just loved the prospect on running the course that the ANBU used to test their new recruits, and whenever Naruto wanted to do something really badly…

"All right," Kaname said reluctantly as she saw Naruto staring at her pitifully, "I'd like to do it as well, I don't think it'll be that much of a challenge," little did she know that the ANBU guarding the Hokage had heard that now that the silencing seals were gone, silently they vowed to make the test harder than what was the standard.

"Fine, the two of you can do it," Tsunade said as she sighed; there was no way she could convince her daughter.

* * *

The ANBU were quick to set up the obstacle course, adding some extra surprises for good measure. At ten minutes to seven in the morning five ANBU teams proudly surveyed what they had managed to accomplish before the examinees turned up.

"You guys seem fired up," Kakashi noted offhandedly, surprising the five teams as he appeared a little early, followed by another ANBU team.

"If my daughter dies…" Tsunade threatened, making her presence known as well. As she landed along with Shizune and Jiraiya.

"As if," Kaname said confidently as she landed in the glade, "Where's Naruto-kun?"

A bright flash and a loud bang suddenly appeared in the midst of the group, making twenty-seven ninja jump away in surprise, their weapons ready. As the smoke that momentarily remained in the area dispersed it revealed a laughing Naruto, who was silenced by a bonk to the head that sent him sprawling forward; courtesy of Kaname.

"Don't do that Naruto-kun!"

"Sorry everyone," while his body language said he was sorry, or at least uncomfortable, his impish grin cracked that image, "So are we going to get started on this little test that'll be over in a no time?"

The ANBU all smiled behind their masks as they relaxed their stances, they doubted he would be quite that confident after he had run the course.

"First a brief," Tsunade said and motioned for one of the ANBU captains to hold the introduction to the course they had prepared.

"Your 'mission' is quite simple; the two of you have been dispatched to steal a document from a house belonging to a merchant about ten kilometers south of here. It is suspected that he have hired shinobi to protect the documents, you are to infiltrate his home, steal the document and return to this spot. You'll see which way you are supposed to go, the orange poles mark the bounds of the course. Once you've exited the house a second part will commence, you'll figure out what that is once you come to that point. Any questions?" The ANBU captain asked the two teenagers.

"Crystal," Naruto said confidently.

"Then the test begins…" Tsunade looked to her watch; it was fifteen minutes past seven in the morning, "Now!"

Seven blurs left the training grounds at high speeds while the remaining twenty-two slowly walked over to the surveillance system that would be used to monitor the test.

"How long does it take to clear this test?" Tsunade questioned the leader of the five teams.

"The average completion time is twenty hours Hokage-sama," the Hokage winced at that, she would have a huge stack of paperwork the day after, luckily the mission assignments could be handled by the chūnin inside the tower as she had already had the forethought to assign teams to missions where they would maximize their skills. She could only pray they would finish faster than that.

* * *

Naruto drew ragged breaths as he jumped from tree to tree, narrowly avoiding becoming a pincushion as senbon needles were shot in rapid succession towards him. The assignment had been pretty easy to begin with, sure the way towards the house had been full of traps and the likes, but those had been easily avoided. Entering the house was a non-issue as well, and so was avoiding detection from the two chūnin that the ANBU had guarding the inside. Kaname had put them under a genjutsu that lured them that everything remained the same for ten minutes, before it had released the pair was long gone from the house. On the trip back they used the same way they had used to enter and everything went fine until they were just a kilometer away from the rendezvous. A barrage of katon jutsus suddenly appeared before them blocking their path, as they jumped to avoid that a hail of barrage forced them backwards, successively they were forced to retreat as their unseen attackers threw attack after attack at them, setting of traps as well. When the attacks finally relented for them to survey their surroundings they found that they had been pushed back a good kilometer and in front of them were a burning inferno. Their attempts to use suiton jutsus proved futile as the flames only intensified as the water hit it and the effect of doton jutsus only remained for a few moments before the area once again was lit. No other way they were forced to return to the house, occasionally suffering from a surprise attack that was narrowly avoided. As they passed the house the attacks intensified, leaving them less and less time to react to the attacks while they still were unable to pinpoint their attackers, but Naruto deduced that they had been attacked by two different persons so far, one preferring to use katon jutsus while the other had a preference to use kunai and senbon needles to perform ranged attacks.

"Ah!" Naruto looked over his shoulder to see Kaname stumbling on the branch she was preparing to jump off, her foot seemingly giving up on her as she started to fall from the tree.

"Kana-chan!" Naruto turned around and was just about to use shunshin to land below her but instead he felt a kick solidly connecting with his stomach, looking up to his aggressor he found a silverhaired mop of hair belonging to his sensei Kakashi.

"No you don't," Kakashi said 'eye-smiling' at the blond boy before parrying a punch to his. The two disengaged and Naruto watched as Kana righted herself in the air; only to be crashed into by one of the ANBU that had accompanied Kakashi. Kakashi's smile was met with a wide grin on Naruto's part before he 'poofed' out of existence, a moment later cursing came over Kakashi's headset; the Kaname who had been falling had also been a clone judging from his associate's choice of words.

A good kilometer ahead of them Naruto and Kaname was running at full speed, that was the tenth pair that the ANBU team and Kakashi had dealt with as they slowly started to catch up to the running pair.

"You two aren't very nice, all those clones of yours are a pain according to Neko-san," a voice called out in front of them, halting their movements. Looking at Kaname Naruto could see that she was approaching her limit, she had expended quite a lot of chakra since the test began fourteen hours ago. Ever since nightfall had come the pair had experience just how ingenious the ANBU could be when setting up traps, forcing them to do wide circles around some traps and even then they couldn't avoid setting of a few traps that had done some minor damages that had forced Kaname to use her healing jutsus.

"Well, it's kinda the meaning behind them," Naruto retorted to the unseen speaker as he tried to locate the source, having no luck since the voice had been evenly spread out in the area.

A sudden rustling sound to his left alerted him of an attacker from there, briefly releasing the chakra from his feet he let himself start to fall from the branch, applying chakra just as he reached the downside of the branch while Kaname punched the assailant who burst into water. Naruto was forced to react to an attacker coming from Kaname's back, a kunai making that clone burst into water as well. That was when a hail of senbon forced the pair to jump away, before Naruto had landed another few senbon was thrown in his direction, forcing him to use shunshin to appear a good ten meters from the spot he had originally planned to land. He gasped in surprise as he felt someone touch his left leg before it went numb. Looking down he saw an ANBU with a bear mask there, the hand still attached to his leg. A punch to the face and the ANBU dispersed into a cloud of smoke. Jumping with his one good leg in the direction where he had seen Kaname jump, he was happy to find that he still could stand on the leg. When he found her she was on the ground in a similar state, only that the ANBU still stood above her, about to put a senbon needle in her neck, effectively knocking her out for a good twenty-four hours if he saw the point the man was aiming for correctly.

It was with satisfaction Naruto watched the ANBU go flying without dispelling as he unleashed his compressed version of Fūton: Daitoppa. He was relieved to find her still conscious.

"Can you stand by yourself?" he questioned as he helped her up from the ground.

"Perhaps," she responed and Naruto released her for half a second before grabbing onto her as she started to fall to the ground, her right leg giving out, "It seems not, and there's too little time to heal it. How about you?"

"I'll manage,"

"Then leave me here, I'll hold them off while you reach the destination, there shouldn't be too much left,"

"I'm not leaving without you!" Just then a large fireball sped towards the pair, courtesy of one of the chasing ANBU. He dragged Kaname up standing and the pair started to move, using their combined strength to remain mobile, Naruto found it highly conspicuous that the ANBU had paralyzed their left, respectively right leg. Unluckily for them that left them pretty open to attacks without a chance to retaliate. Increasingly they received minor wounds, the blade of a katana lightly cutting into them occasionally, a kunai nicking a small wound, senbon needles that slowed their movements while steady barrages of different ninjutsu had them jumping around. Never did the three ANBU close at their heels attack as one, nor did they attack alone. All in all it was highly frustrating.

When one of the ANBU did appear in front of them clearly visible Naruto had since long lost any patience, before the ANBU had a chance to finish the long seal sequence of the offensive jutsu he was about to unleash he had to stop channel the chakra, instead erecting a wall of earth to protect him from the blonde projectile that was the pair as they both used chakra to enhance the last jump while Naruto created a rasengan in his right hand, obliterating the wall and just narrowly missing the ANBU who sighed in relief. The ANBU started to struggle to keep up with their pray as the pair changed their tactics drastically, Naruto had moved Kaname to his back; the numbness of his leg mostly gone. Instead of avoiding the traps the blond boy created a multitude of clones that ran ahead of the pair at a ten meter interval, setting off any and all traps in their way as they simply charged right through instead.

"Naruto, the two other pursuers have joined up with the other three," Kaname informed her friend. Idly she noted that was probably why they hadn't experienced any attacks since Naruto nearly charged through one of the ANBU; the three ANBU who had kept them on their toes for the last hour were resting up slightly as they prepared the next attack which probably would be in full force. "We're close to the end of the course; I can just barely sense several other presences ahead of us,"

"Raiton: Raikyū," the ball of lightning was narrowly avoided by Naruto, before he had a chance to land he found a huge wave coming against him from his left, luckily for him Kaname reacted and used her own affinity to control the water and set up a wall of water protecting them from a barrage of kunai from his right side. What they hadn't been prepared for was when the ANBU with the cat mask jumped in close and gave Naruto a good cut to his right arm. Though it did hurt like hell Naruto could tell it wouldn't do any lasting damage; once he'd gotten it treated by a medic or he gave the Kyūbi a day or two, it would be like it was the day before. But what mattered was now and currently he was without the usage of his right arm. Looking up at Kaname exhausted expression he guessed she was in no form to heal the wound; he'd just have to focus on getting to the end quickly.

He just received the memory of his last shadow-clone and almost sighed in relief, unlike the rest of the clones this one hadn't been dispelled by triggering a trap, rather it just reached what was the goal of the course, meaning Naruto was less than a minute from completing his objective. "Kana-chan, could you take the notes in my left vest pocket and drop them here,"

It took the girl an agonizing long ten seconds to withdraw the notes and release them on the ground, after exactly three seconds a bright light started to erupt behind the pair, neither looking back to see the effects of Naruto's special light notes.

Tsunade watched in trepidation as the two blondes, or rather one blond carrying the other, came running into glade that officially was the training ground. It didn't take long before all the assembled ninja were huddled around the pair just as Naruto collapsed on the ground, a smile etched onto his face.

"Told you I'd do it… old lady!" Naruto said before his eyes shut. A quick diagnosis done by Shizune concluded that it was simple exhaustion that was the cause, not that surprising. What was surprising was the amount of paralyzing agents present within the boy and how he had managed to clear the run.

Tsunade on was relieved to find that her daughter didn't have any major wounds, it looked like she mostly had been hit with senbon needles while Naruto had taken the heavier hits. Just like her partner the girl had been taken to the brink of total exhaustion, though her chakra storages were much worse to wear, Naruto was low on chakra while her daughter was on the verge of chakra exhaustion.

"Seems like they did manage after all," Tsunade said just as Kakashi landed along with his four ANBU companions.

"They still have much to learn though," Kakashi said as he looked at the unconscious teens, "Had it been for real they would both have been much worse off,"

"Well, how often do you pit a chūnin and a genin against seasoned ANBU knowingly?" Jiraiya said, he had pride in his two students, _'besides, they didn't use all of their abilities that I know of, and even then there's some stuff even I don't know,'_

"Now now, this isn't a matter of if they would have died if it had been for real, they did pass what they were tasked to manage, being pursued for over a day is no small task as most of you would agree to right?" most ANBU nodded at their Hokage; they couldn't argue that. "What are your opinions based on their performance?"

"Well, they performed fine until about the fifteenth hour when a little desperation started to seep in and Uzumaki started to use his clones hazardously, had there been more teams in the vicinity they would have been alarmed when the explosive traps were set off, at least someone would come to investigate the source of the explosions," the ANBU with the bear mask said as he looked at the two blondes, "Anyways, shouldn't they be taken to some proper beds at least, or shall they sleep on the forest floor?"

"In a moment they will, but before that, anyone who has anything to add to this view?" Tsunade said and only received a silence, "Anyone objecting to that they are at the chūnin level?"

"Well, in a way I'd like to object to that," Kakashi received stares from both Hokage and white-haired pervert, "They're both much stronger than that, at the very least they should be tokubetsu jōnin,"

"They both lack the mission amounts, Kaname don't even have a single mission under her belt," Tsunade said as she sighed. The blond boy needed a few C and B rank missions under his belt to be eligible for the special rank while Kaname was ways off, though Tsunade was sure she could worm her way into giving the girl at least a chūnin rank with six ANBU teams supporting her cause.

"So we're just going to waste their talents because of protocol says so?"

"The council sadly has my hands tied in that department; I had to have several meetings just to explain my reasoning behind the promotion of Uzumaki Naruto to chūnin; even though he had been passed by the judges in his chūnin exam. So I can't utilize their skills in our _regular_ forces…"

"I see Hokage-sama, well with the assignment over we'll take our leave and assess the data we've collected on the course," the leader of the ANBU contingent said before bowing and leaving, the six teams close on his heels.

It was with a sigh Tsunade moved to pick up her unconscious daughter while Jiraiya unceremoniously hefted the blond boy over his shoulder. Shizune followed her master once Jiraiya had convinced her that Naruto would do just fine.

Kakashi remained immobile at the training grounds before starting to slowly move towards the memorial stone. His only student who had remained loyal to Konoha had returned, no longer the brash knucklehead that he had known in the past. The boy had been more calculating and showed an ability to adapt to most situations that he and the four ANBU had set him in, true they never went for killing Naruto and Kaname, but neither did the two blondes. Their mission had been to tire them out, goad them into becoming reckless and screw up and exhaust themselves. It was a different test from what was usually given ANBU where the stakes were much higher, but then during the true test there never was that much traps prepared; at least not during Kakashi's time in ANBU. Teaching the boy would be fun the silver-haired man noted and he would do all in his power not to disappoint the one student he still had. In fact he was surprised that the Hokage would let him teach again, after the failure that was team seven he figured he'd be stuck with the most boring missions for the rest of his life, never allowed to teach after the big failure he had done with favoring the relative to his late teammate Obito while ignoring his other students. He never noticed that he had been standing at the memorial stone until the sun was a good way above the horizon, it was only then to his great shock he realize he'd forgotten all about the gift his blond student had given him; carefully he took the still shining green book out from his pocket: Icha Icha Tactics was in his hands and he was going to take pleasure reading the book.

* * *

**A/N:** There will some cameo's from Arashi no Mae in this, mostly minor characters though, as some of the readers of named story might have noticed with the innkeeper in this story. More characters will be sure to follow, coming up with new filler characters is time consuming and I'd rather focus on providing a good story than spending hours with coming up with the name for a client or some random innkeeper.

As always, please leave a review; they're always welcome.

Various notes:

_Oyaji: Old man, father or one's boss__. Kaname calls Jiraiya that due to his close relationship with her mother in the past and well, he's old. There's also the fact that he's in a manner shaped up to be like a father like figure to her during the training trip. (Mind you, he's still been perverted during the trip, only he laid low with that in her presence, just in case she was like her mother; or reported his suspicious activites to said mother. Luckily for him she's taken his lecherous activities in stride so far, mostly since he hadn't done anything in her vicinity.)  
_

_If there's any other question; ask away and I'll add the answer in a future note (Unless it's of plot value of course) and respond through a PM._


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